


Ponyo

by JadynRosetta



Series: Ghibli x Klance crossovers [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Allura as Granmamare, Fantasy, Keith as Sosuke, Krolia as Lisa, Lance as Ponyo, Lotor as Fujimoto, M/M, Ponyo AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-23
Updated: 2019-05-26
Packaged: 2019-08-27 21:51:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16710715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JadynRosetta/pseuds/JadynRosetta
Summary: A Ponyo AU.  Lance is a goldfish prince who lives under the sea with all of his sisters, who longs to see the surface.  One day he breaks free and meets a young boy named Keith.  Now Lance longs to be human and his choices endanger Keith's entire village.  Both boys must choose between Lance's dream and the village itself.





	1. Lance the Fish

Many jellyfish swim around in the deep sea, the majority of them go up one by one.  Then a droplet goes into the water, creating more and more jellies. The droplets came from inside a giant bubble, caused by a man inside.  He had long white hair and tan skin, he had a ridiculous outfit on. However nothing seemed to phase him. That is until a squid goes by, and was lighting up in an array of colors.

The man gasps and looks around in his pockets, trying to find something.  He pulls a weird light device out of his back pocket and points it at the squid.  The light fades off the creature, the man waves the device around, then puts it away.  Collecting the potions around him and prepares to finish his work.

On the other side of the bubble, near the small ship a small fish creature pops out of the hole from the ship.  It has a human face, but a blue fish body. His skin was slightly darker than the mans, but still a fish. He sees a small fish go by him, he eats it happily.  Then smaller versions of him followed him out. They all made happy noises as they followed him out.

He shushes them, telling them to be quiet and go back inside, they didn’t listen.  However it was loud enough that the man heard them, he looks over to see them. The larger fish helped the others in while he pressed his body against the ship as tight as he could.  The man continues to look, however a catfish was blocking his view. He assumes it’s nothing and goes back to work.

The young fish sighs in relief and looks at the others to stay quiet, one swims out and gave him a kiss.  He waves them goodbye while they all made tiny farewell squeaks. He swims away and found his way under a jellyfish, hiding himself well.  He lands on a bigger jellyfish and slowly floats away. He stares at the sky above, curling up under the jellyfish and falls asleep, excited for where he was floating.

Not long after it was daytime and he floated far far away.  He looks out and sees a large boat above him. The jellyfish floats to the surface, the small fish lifts the smaller one above him and sees a house and a hill in the distance, looking like nothing he has ever seen before.

A young boy runs out of his home with a boat in hand.  A woman pokes her head out the window to tell him something.

“Keith, you come right back up okay?” 

“Okay.”  He says as he runs down the dirt path near the home.  The fish sees him and is shocked, more creatures look like that?  His shock was short lived since a bunch of small fish jumped at him.  He noticed a boat was scaring them away. He hops in the water and swims away himself.

However the boat was carrying a net at the bottom, collecting fish as well as garbage.  It took the fish, he tried swimming out of the garbages way however a perfectly placed bottle came in and he swam in head first.  He tried swimming out of it but he was stuck. He managed to violently worm his way out of the net, but he was still stuck in the bottle.  He managed to weakly swim to the shore.

* * *

Keith walks over to the water with his boat.  He didn’t really have a plan for what he was doing, he just wanted to play with his boat before he had to go, but he didn’t have a lot of time.  He managed to get down and then stops. Seeing the fish stuck in a bottle.

He kicks his shoes off and puts his boat down.  Lifting his shorts to avoid getting wet he walks into the water, now realizing lifting them was useless cause the water went up to his kneecaps, he grabs the bottle and looks at it.

“A goldfish…”  He shakes the bottle, then slaps it against his hand, then tugs at the fish.  “I can’t get it out.” Now probably giving a concussion, he thinks for an alternate solution.  He takes the fish to the shore. A large wave comes at him, he quickly runs out of the water and onto a high rock.

The water looks at him, then the eyes float away.

“That was weird.”  Keith says as he puts the fish down.  He grabs a large rock and slams it against the bottle, the glass shatters instantly.  He sucks his thumb, as something cut him, he sucks the blood off. He grabs the fish and looks at it.  “Looks kind of dead.” He says as he pushes on it’s face to wake it up, not even caring that he was bleeding again.  The fish licks the blood off instantly, the boys face lit up.

“It licked me!  It’s alive!” He says happily.  He collects his boat and shoes, still holding the fish.  The water came back at him and tried getting the small boy.

“Keith, come on we’ll be late!”

“Mom, look a goldfish!”  He says as he runs up to show his mom, not at all noticing the water chasing him.  They gave sad looks as they tried to catch him, but failed miserably. The wind violently blows, the woman’s short black hair goes in her face, she looks over.

“This wind is crazy… Keith, I’m starting the car now.”  She calls and walks to the car, her son following up the steep hill.

Meanwhile the water goes back to a meetup area.  The man floats up, a bubble around his head. It pops as soon as he reaches the surface.  He sees his water minions came to meet him, he looks at them with panic.

“Well, have you found my son?”  He asks, the water makes a moaning noise in response.  He panics. “What?! He was captured by a human?!” He looks at the young boy who took his son.  “Oh boy, this is bad.” He sends his minions away and goes back under water.

Keith runs to a hose outside his house, he turns it on and puts a conveniently placed bucket under it.  He fills it and turns it off, then puts the fish inside. He looks at it with confusion.

“Is it already dead?”  He pokes it, then nudges him with his hand, the fish floats upwards.  Keith smiles, eyes bright. “You are alive!” He says happily.

The fish spits water out at him, he laughs and wipes the water off as best as he could.  His mom pulls up from behind.

“Keith, let’s go!”  His mother shouts. “I have a job ya know!”

“Look Mom I’ve got the goldfish!”  Keith says as he dances down the hill to the car.

“A goldfish?”  She said that more to herself than to her son.

“It was down by the rocks!”  He explains.

“Yeah?”  She looks over on the other side.  The fish’s father was now on the hill with a device on his back, spraying water in his path.  He was obviously walking towards Keith, motherly instincts kicked in. She opens Keith’s side of the door, then proceeds to unbuckle herself and step out of the car to stop him from getting any closer to her son.  Keith got into the car as she stepped out.

“I don’t know who you are, but we don’t use weed killer around here.”  She snaps. The man was taken aback, he looks at his hose then back at her, now more offended than anything.

“What?  This is not weed killer!  This is the purest of ocean water, and it keeps me from drying out on land!”

“Whatever, as long as it’s not weed killer.”  She snaps and slams her car door shut. “Excuse us.”

“Please wait!”  He says before she speeds off.  Turning corners like a mad woman down the binding road.  The man stands there, then began pumping the water back out onto the dry land.  “This is bad, this is very bad.” He runs down.

Down in the car Keith was given a lecture by his mother, he wasn’t listening.  He was too focused on his fish.

“Wow, that guy was a freakshow.  But don’t you call anyone freakshow, we never judge a book by it’s cover.”

“I know Mom, I don’t.”  He says blankly. She looks down at his goldfish.

“Another experiment for school?”

“Uh huh.”

“Your teacher doesn’t really like show and tell.”  She says as a warning.

“I think it’ll be fine.  Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of you.”  He tells his fish friend. His mother looks back over.

“Huh, he sure is pretty.”  She says with a smile then goes back to driving.  The vast sea next to them, boats coming and going, or just floating there.  She sees something and panics. “Oh no, a boat’s headed for dry dock!” She pushes her bangs back and worries.

She then remembers something.  She pulls something out from the back, a sandwich.  She shoves on in her mouth and hands the other to her son.

“Hrry wup, eat yur breckfast.”  She says, mouth full of sandwich.  He takes it and stares at it.

“I wonder if he’ll eat this.”  He says to himself. The fish looking at him with curious eyes.  He looks at the fish and the sandwich. “Want some?” As he stares at his sandwich he made a discovery.  “Hey, my cut is gone!” He sucks on it to see if it’s true. It was, his thumb was all better.

“Mom, I think I’ll call him Lance.  He came to me, he might be magic!” Keith says with excitement.  His mom looks over at her son, sandwich halfway gone. “I saved him, he’s my responsibility now.”  He says as he pulls a piece of bread off of his sandwich.

He hands it to Lance, which responds by turning away with disgust.  Keith was taken aback. He slowly puts the bread piece in his mouth.

“Want some ham instead?”  He tears a tiny bit of ham off with his mouth to give to Lance, instead the tiny fish responds by taking the big slab off of his sandwich and eating it.  Keith’s response went from shock to amazement. “Mom, Lance really likes to eat ham!” He says with a giggle.

“So he thinks he’s human?”  She says with amusement. They were on their way to the dry dock, meanwhile in the ocean next to them Lance’s father was on their tail.  He pops up from the water, only to get hit by garbage and pieces of wood. He had to keep looking back and forth, on his son and to make sure he doesn’t get it again.

Unlucky for him a boat was headed his way, he goes underwater and kept going, only to see sand and sludge under the boat.  He made an annoyed sound as he hits it, coughing up the debris that hit his face.

“Urg, humans are disgusting!”

The car made it to the dry dock, two workers were waving them over.

“Come on Krolia, hurry!”  One yells. Krolia quickly drives over the dry dock, meanwhile a boat was coming up at that moment.  At the bottom Lance’s father kept going.

“All this waste and filth.”  He grumbles as more sludge attacked him.

Krolia drives down the winding road, passing a van with a flower design on it.  She waves to the driver.

“Morning Coran!”  She says, he waves slightly.  They go by the ocean line again, Keith looks out at all the boats and the cliff on the other side.

“Lance look, you can see our house.”  He says, Lance’s head pokes out of the water.  Low and behold you could see their house from where they were.  Lance kept staring at it, as though he wanted to commit it to memory.  They drive past a daycare over to a senior home next door. Krolia parks in one of three spots.

“Ask about the fish.”

“I will.”  Keith said happily.  She unbuckles herself.

“Love you Keith.”  She got out of the car.

“Bye.”  Keith watches her leave with a smile.  She runs to the door while Coran pulls up with the van.

Hey.”  A young woman says.

“Seems like I’m always late.”  Krolia says while running in.

“Can you grab another wheelchair?”  The woman asks. Krolia replies with a quick ‘sure’.  Keith got out of the car and carefully takes the bucket with him.  Making sure Lance stays safe he walks across to the daycare nextdoor.  The van Coran was driving had a bunch of old women in it. One looks and smiles at him.

“Good morning Keith.”

“Excuse me, I’m in a big hurry Eress.”

“Is that so?”

“And me Keith?”  A woman asks going down a ramp in the back.

“Not now Honerva, I’m concentrating.”  He walks past them to a little hole in the wooden fence.  He goes through and has made it to the daycare. Then a thought ran through the child's head.  “Maybe the teacher will get mad.” Then a lightbulb went off.

“I got it.”  He walks over to a bush and hides the bucket under it.  “You’ll be safe here Lance, I’ll be back soon.” He says with a smile.  He looks around. “I wonder if there are any cats around here…” He quickly runs off, then comes back with a giant leaf, now no one will find his beloved fish.  “That should do it Lance, stay put I’ll be right back.”

Lance peeks at him from under the leaf, wondering where he was going.  He decided to just swim in circles, nothing better to do. Keith runs into the daycare, hearing a mother talk about her baby and how she’s been a little under the weather.  The woman takes it saying it will be alright. Keith looks at the teacher.

“Good morning Sensei.”

“Good morning Keith.”  She responds.

“Morning Keith.”  The mother says happily.  Keith nods at her. Then a bouncy girl comes in.

“Keith!”

“Hello Acxa.”

“My mom made me a new dress, isn’t it pretty?”  He nods. Then a boy walks up holding one of the younger kids for no reason, his name was Hunk.  The kid he was holding was Katie.

“Come on Keith let’s go play.”  Hunk says shyly.

“I can’t now, I’m busy.”  Keith said. Acxa puts her hands on her hips.

“You’re not busy, you’re five!”

“Yes I am, I have a job!”  Keith tells them the truth.

“You’re so weird.”  Acxa huffs and walks away, slightly offended that her friend doesn’t want to play.  Hunk looks back.

“Yeah.”  He huffs like Acxa, swinging Katie around like a stuffed animal and follows Acxa inside.  As soon as they left Keith slowly slinks back outside. He runs back to Lance, who was floating on his back.

Keith gasps, wondering what had happened the short time he was in his classroom.

“Lance?  Lance!” He began to cry, the fish rubs the sleep out of his eyes and yawns.  Keith takes a breath of relief, he’s okay. He rubs the tears out of his eyes.

“Keith!”  A young girls voice chimes in.  Keith shot up and looks over.

“Oh, Acxa.”

“What is that?”  She asks in a bossy tone.  Keith got up and held the bucket in the bushes, making sure Acxa doesn’t see it.  “There are rules about bringing things to school for a reason.”

“I know this isn’t school.”  He points out, already giving her the worlds cutest glare.  She got closer to see. “These bushes are on the senior center property-”

“Let me see!”  She looks over his shoulder, their cheeks squished together as she forces her way to see.  “Oh a goldfish?”

“He’s not just a fish, he’s Lance.”

“Lance?  Let’s see!”

“Okay but don’t tell Sensei.”

“I won’t!”

“The rules are, look but don’t touch.”  He says as he walks out, Acxa bouncing in her spot.  He presents the bucket to his friend. “Look at him, isn’t he pretty?”  He sounded so happy showing him to Acxa. Lance just looks at her, then he snubs her.  Acxa saw that and was a little peeved by that.

“That is the most boring goldfish I have ever seen in my entire life.”  She snaps, Lance turns back to her. Not taking that insult. He spits water at her, Acxa lets out a squeaky scream.  Keith stood there, too stunned to do anything. He didn’t think this would happen, never in his life did he think that would happen…

Acxa looks at her dress, seeing all soaked, and began to cry.  Keith bails out of there, he was not getting in trouble today, no sirey.  He runs to the senior center, making sure his teacher didn’t find him. He hides near a flower patch and looks at the bucket.

“That one was Acxa’s fault, you should never judge someone by their looks.”  He tells Lance, who was just swimming around. He sees the garden hose next to him.  “Let’s get you some more water.” He lifts the bucket and puts it under the hose, trying to take it off so he can use the faucet connected to the ground.  He takes it off, as well as knocking the bucket over. He gasps.

Lance flops around near the drain.  Keith violently grabs him and turns the hose on, filling the bucket.  He shoves Lance in it and turns it off, water splashes out of the sides.

“Lance!”  The fish looks at Keith, then spits water at him.  He giggles as water hits him. “That was my fault.”  He says, Lance kept spitting water, Keith continues to giggle.

“There it is again, I hear ol’ Keith’s voice.”  He hears one of the women say. “But I know our boy is in school right now, so it must be only in my head.”  She says, Keith walks out from behind the flowers.

“Look Eress, I’m right over here.”  He says, the woman looks over then her eyes go wide with surprise.

“Oh that’s a relief, I haven’t lost my mind quite yet.”  She says, Keith walks in front of them with a big grin on his face.

“Are you two ready to see my big surprise?”

“What is it?”  Eress asks.

“I’ll show you, but first guess what color he is!”  Keith says with excitement. The two women thought, but they could see Lance poking his head out, fins grabbing the sides of the bucket.

“It’s blue!”

“Blue!”  They both said happily, Honerva rolling up behind them.

“That’s right!”  Keith said, Lance quickly went into the bucket as Keith looks down.  “How did you guess that?” He asks.

“Let us see!”  The women kept begging for Keith to come over and show them.  He nods and walks over to them so they can see the fish. “Oooh, very pretty.”

“His name is Lance, he likes to eat ham, and he can do magic!”  He tells them. “I had a cut on my hand and it went away, because he licked it!”

“Maybe he can use some of that magic on my hips and back.”

“I’d let a fish lick me if it meant getting me out of this chair.”  The two said.

“Well I don’t know about all that licking, I’d have to ask Lance-”

“Let me have a look in that green pale.”  Honerva says coming in from out of nowhere.

“Yes Honerva.”  He says. She looks in then shrieks.

“It has a real face on it!”  She backs away the best she could.  Keith looks at her with confusion, Lance pokes his head out.  “Put it back in the ocean, don’t you know it will cause a tsunami?!”

“Oh you.”  Eress starts.  “It’s always tsunami, day and night.”  Honerva looks at Eress.

“Fish with faces always cause tsunamis, that’s what they all say.”  Lance pokes his head out and spits water at her. Honerva flies back.  She squeezes her eyes shut and tries to swim. “Tsunami, Tsunami! It’s here!”  She shrieks. “Keith, put him back in the ocean where he belongs!” Keith ran away, not wanting to get in trouble.

Krolia runs out and sees Honerva shrieking while the other two just watched, free show for them.  Another nurse runs over to check on her.

“Honerva, what’s the matter?”  Honerva finally took a deep breath, like she had been holding it.

“I’m soaking wet, look at my clothes.”  She tells them. Keith ran in whatever direction his little legs were carrying him.  Lance hops out of the bucket for no reason. He runs down some cement stairs and climbs over a few rocks.

“Keith!”  He hears his mother calling him.  He kept crawling over a few rocks, past some weird bugs that were swarming one, and hid behind a few of them out of sight.  “Keith? Keith!” She kept shouting, poking her head over the railing to call to him, knowing full well he ran in that direction to hide.  “Keith! Come back here and apologize!”

She sighs walks off.  Keith thought that meant she had left for good, he looks at the boats near the shoreline he was at and back at Lance, who was still in the bucket, living the dream.

“Don’t worry Lance.  No matter what, I will protect you.”  He says to the fish, making it a personal vow.  Lance looks at him, then pokes his head out.

“Ke-ith!”  Lance says, Keith’s eyes went wide… did the fish just…  “Keeeiith!” He says with a smile. Keith’s eyes lit up, he couldn’t believe it, Lance was talking.  He began to giggle. “Laance!” He says. Keith nods.

“Lance.”  He points to himself.  “Keith.” Lance smiles.

“Lance..loves… Keith!”  He says then started doing backflips in the water.  Keith’s five year old heart skipped a beat. He looks at the bucket, right at his fish.

“I love you too.”

“Lance loves Keith!”  Lance says then started dancing around in the bucket, Keith starts to giggle at the exchange.

Then Lance’s father rises from the water’s seeing the two were alone, and near the shore.  He held a small handful of water, then a couple of things with eyes spring to life and make their way towards the two.  Keith sees it and gasps, nightmare fuel.

They practically suck Keith in, Lance desperately tries to stay in the bucket, but all was lost.  The water goes back into the ocean, Keith wasn’t holding the bucket anymore. He gasps.

“Lance!”  He runs into the ocean.  “Lance! Lance!” He sees the bucket and grabs it, he’s not in it.  Keith grew worried. “Lance! Lance!” He looks around, trying to spot his beloved goldfish.  This wasn’t right, he vowed to protect him.

Krolia runs over to the edge again.  She flipped when she saw her son in the ocean, his little head bobbing in and out of the water, calling for Lance.

“Keith!”  She shrieks, running to go get him.  She made it to the water and picks her son up, he held onto his mother and began to sob.  He couldn’t save him, he couldn’t save his fish. Everyone went to check on him, he didn’t want to look at anyone, he just curled up in his mother’s arms.

* * *

Lance tried to fight out of the bubble he was trapped in, but his father made it impossible for him to swim away.  They went back deep into the ocean, where they belong.

* * *

It was noon, Krolia was driving to the store to pick up a ton of groceries.  Keith follows behind her, still in a slight daze, holding an ice cream cone. They speed up the hill that they live on.  He lazily licks his ice cream, too upset to do anything. Krolia looks at him.

“You know Keith, maybe it’s for the best.”  She explains. “I know you tried, but Lance is a fish.  He wasn’t meant to live in a bucket, the ocean is home for him.”  She says, Keith still lazily licks at his cone. “Anyways, let’s get home.  Hopefully that spritzing weirdo is gone.” She drives like a madwoman, almost hitting someone.  “Can I have a lick?” She asks.

“Hurry it’s gonna melt.”  She tells him. He held it up to her, she took a big lick.  “Your dad’s favorite, mine too.” She says as they pull a fast and the furious up the hill.  “I’m really sorry Keith. But your dad is coming home tonight, and you can tell him all about Lance.”  They made it home.

Krolia carries all her groceries in while Keith carries the empty bucket.

“No more ocean today.”  She tells him, Keith replies with a hum.  He walks over to the hose he used first to fill it, and sees his boat is still there.  He picks it up and looks out at the ocean. He runs to the opening of the fence, looking out at the ocean.  Staring at the rocks where he saved him.

“Keith?  Keith, it’s time to come in now.”  Krolia tells her son, he looks at her.

“Maybe if I leave the pale Lance will know where we live, and maybe he’ll come back.”  He tells his mom. She smiles.

“Do that, I think that’s a lovely thing to do for Lance.”  He nods and puts it on the fence, then runs inside, hoping Lance will return someday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay Ponyo was HIGHLY requested and everyone wanted me to write it... so here ya go. I'm still working on Betrayal and Blind Eyes, but I haven't done a Ghibli crossover in a while and again this was requested.


	2. I Want to be a Human Too!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am sooooo sorry :( I actually lost this doc, but found it recently and decided to finish it. I'm taking a slight break from writing cause I've written a few stories and posted them to different sites, but each one had people flat out attacking me and giving me real harsh criticisms for pointless things, one person flat out took my story down all because of a ship she didn't like. Way to go Voltron fandom =_=  
> So I found this and the movie again (one that doesn't send me to a porn site) and finished this chapter. I'll get working on the other one soon, but for now I take my break.

The mouth-watering smell of Krolia’s cooking fills the kitchen.  She puts things in a pot, checks the oven, everything. The phone goes off while she still cooks.  Krolia looks over.

“Keith can you get that?  It must be your dad.” She says as she pours hot water out.  Keith runs over and picks the phone up.

“Hello?”  He listens.  “Yeah, she’s fine.”  His dad was still on the boat, Keith could hear the gulls.  “Are you at the dock?”

“I caught a second run so I have to take it.  I won’t be home tonight. I’ll signal you when we pass.”  He says. “Can you help me out with mom?”

“Nooo you should tell her.”  Keith did not want to get involved in that, he knows his mom, she won’t take that well.  Krolia walks over and took the phone from Keith. He walks away.

“Hi Honey.  Uh huh… what?!”  She wasn’t taking it well, Keith decides to play with his boat.  Let his mom get mad, not his problem. “Too many in a row Heith, let someone else take it!  Go ahead, abandon your wife and child on a cliff all alone!” She snaps, Keith looks over at his mother with a shocked, yet worried expression.  “Jerk!” She slams the phone down.

Krolia walks into the kitchen and started turning everything off and slamming things, having an episode.

“Come on Keith, let’s get out of here!”

“What if Lance comes back?”  He asks. Krolia rolls her eyes, beginning to pace.  She storms to the fridge and pulls a beer out. Opening it violently and having the froth spill all over her hand.

Later that night Keith looked outside with his binoculars and sailor hat while his mother lays drunk on the floor, legs still on the bed.  He watches ships go by, one started signaling him. His little eyes widen and looks at his mom.

“There’s Dad!  Turn off the lights Mom, don’t you wanna signal him?”  He asks, she makes a groaning sound that was a clear no.  Keith runs over and turns the lights off, then runs back to the window.  He sends a message to his dad. On the boat his father’s face lights up.

“Hey my son is working the signal all by himself!  Can ya believe that?” He asks with so much pride in his voice, the copilot turns back and steers.

“Your wife must be pretty mad.”  The two continue to message via light signal.

‘I-M V-E-R-Y S-O-R-”

“R...Y…”  Keith says out loud.  “Dad says he’s very sorry.”  He says to his mother.

“B-U-G O-F-F.”  She tells her son to signal, he does as he’s instructed.  “B-U-G-O-F-F BUG OFF BUGOFFBUGOFF!” He signaled as fast as he could, his face goes blank.  His dad signals back.

“Mom, Dad says he loves you.”  She throws her legs off the bed and pouts on the ground, still holding the pillow in her arms.  “He says lots and lots.” She grumbles a bit and runs over, throwing her pillow aside. She signals to him.

‘B-U-G-O-F-F B-U-G-O-F-F B-U-G-O-F-F BUGOFFBUGOFF-’  She kept going off. It goes quiet, then the boat lights up.  Keith’s face lit up.

“Woah, nice Dad!”  He says to himself, Krolia huffs and walks back inside.  Keith watches his mother leave. Well he decides to say farewell, seeing how his mother already did that.

‘I-L-L P-R-A-Y.  S-A-F-E V-O-Y-A-G-E.’

‘T-H-A-N-K-S.  G-O-O-D-N-I-G-H-T.’  And with that his father was gone.  Keith ran over and turns the lights on, the flicker a bit.  Then reveal his mother lazily laying on the bed, hiding her face to muffle her tears.

Keith walks around her and began to stroke her hair, trying to comfort her.

“Don’t cry Mom, I know Dad breaks his promises sometimes.”  He says. “But he does his best for us. I promised Lance that I’d take care of him, then I lost him.”  He tells her, she looks at her son. “I wonder if he’s crying now…” Lost in his own thoughts again. Krolia smiles, she pulls her son in for a hug, his hat flying off.

“You are so good, mmmmm~”  She nuzzles into him, Keith makes groaning sounds, not wanting all the sudden love and affection.  She sat up quickly, still holding Keith in a death grip. “Happy as can be~” She looks at her son, he was squished in her arms.  “Don’t worry Keith, you did your best and Lance will be just fine.”

“Okay.”  He gave a very hopeful look, his mother was usually right so it must be true.  She chuckles a bit, turning on all the lights to the house.

“I say we start with dessert and go backwards!  It’s been a backwards kind of day!”

* * *

The sea was as boring as ever, quiet and all the life passing by without a care in the world.  Inside the palace it was dark and steam was coming out of everywhere.

“It’s not your fault.  I exposed you to the magic and you’re too young to understand.”  Lance’s father said. All of Lance’s sisters were in a giant bubble beside him.  They all came out of their little castle in the bubble to watch their father talk to their big brother.

“I have to keep the sea in balance and it’s a great responsibility.”  He says as he takes what looks like a pea, puts it on a stick and pokes it in his son’s bubble.  He was ignoring him. “You must promise me something. You will never go back to the surface, yes?”  Putting the food in, his son refuses. “Come now, eat Anahita.”

His son slowly turns around in his bubble.

“I.  Want.  Ham!” He says, then blows the pea out.  Then he went back to ignoring his father.  His father looks at where he spat the pea thing out, then back and forth in shock.

“H-Ham!  You ate their food!”  He says. “What else did you do?  Did you taste blood Anahita?” He asks with slight concern, wanting an answer out of his son.  He turns around in his bubble.

“My name is not Anahita, it’s Lance.”  He says, his father blinks a bit, looking at his son dumbfounded.

“...Lance?”

“Lance!  Lance loves Keith!  I will be a human too!”  He tells his father excitedly.  

“Human?”  He asks, then grows angry.  “What do you know about humans Anahita?  They spoil the sea.” He tells him. “They treat your home like their empty black souls.”  His daughters were the only ones really listening at that point. “I was once a human long ago myself.  I had to leave that all behind to serve the earth.”

Lance floats on his back, looking at his father.  He wasn’t really listening to him, he didn’t care.

“Hands, I want hands!”  He tells him, then looks at his fishy tail.  He began to flail in his bubble. “I don’t want these flippers anymore!  I want feet, like Keith!” His father was starting to get irritated, his drama queen son won’t shut up about the human thing.

“That’s enough!”  Then he was shocked yet again.  His son’s flippers began to bulge.  All his sisters freak out and get closer to see what he was doing.  Then two webbed feet pop out. His father grabs his hair and freaks out.  The girls kept getting closer, swarming to get a view of the feet.

Then Lance made two hands, now standing in the bubble, big dorky smile on his face.  He looks at his new hands.

“I made hands.”  Looks down. “I made feet too!”  He began to dance on them, laughing and jumping around.  His father was really freaking out now.

“What?!  No no, don’t tell me.  You have tasted human blood!”

“I’m going to Keith!”  He tells his father, who was now squishing the bubble down to silence his son and hopefully he'll stop changing.

“Enough.  You are making a terrible mistake, don’t do it!  Stop it, stop it, stop changing now! Revert, revert… revert… revert!”  He couldn’t stop him, Lance’s head pushed through the opening between his fingers and thumb.  He was still changing. “Revert…” His father was sweating bullets, trying hard to stop the transformation.  “Stopitstopitstopitstopitstopitstopit-Don’t change!”

The two fought eachother, one wanting to change and the other wanting to keep everything the same.  The bubble kept getting bigger, Lance was clearly winning at this point.

“I need more power.”  He lets go of Lance’s bubble and ran to his potions.  He began to drink them all, grabbing two at a time to gain enough power, meanwhile his son was complaining in the bubble.

“Let me out!  Let me out! I want to see Keith!  Let me out!” His father wipes his lips free of the liquids and walks back to his son, who was pushing at the bubble.  He places his hands on boths sides of his sons bubble and started to change him back.

“You can’t be magic and human at the same time sweetheart.  Be still be still be still be still be still.” The bubble shrank back to it’s normal size, as did Lance.  He releases it, all the girls look over in shock. Their brother was passed out in the bubble. Their father sighs a breath of relief, and of stress.  “He’s already so powerful, just like his mother.”

He picks the bubble up, as a few crabs rub by them both.  He looks at his now passed out son.

“If only you can remain pure and innocent forever.”  He walks over to the giant bubble, his daughters all swim back to their little castle.  They watched as their father push Lance back into their room, he lazily floats in. Bouncing across the floors, still asleep.  “I don’t have the power to hold him for very long. I need to ask for his mother’s help now.”

He tried walking, but felt something at his feet.  He quickly looks down and sees a ton of crabs swarming, freaking out.  At the bubble window they came crawling in, the fish were looking through.

“Ah, they’re headed for my elixirs!”  He runs to the bottles he dropped earlier.  “Shoo shoo! Get out of here!” He grabs all of them and puts them in what looks like a fridge.  “That was too close, careful not to upset the balance of nature.” He says. “Calm, I must remain calm.”  He ran around. “The thought of meeting her again, my heart won’t stop pounding.” He ran by with another potion bottle.  “Alright, focus on work.”

“This batch should be ready.”  He says as he goes downstairs to his room.  He looks around. “At least their aren’t leaks down here.”  He walks in and tries to open one door but it was stubborn. “This door still doesn’t fit right.”  He grunts and got it to open, the room had a concrete bowl on the ground, with some weird glowing substance.

He walks in, his cape catching on a few books.  He watches them fall to the ground, then continues with what he was doing.

“If even one living creature got in here.”  He mumbles as he opens the potion bottle. He pours out a green liquid into the bowl.  A single drop was left, he took the last drop himself, then he doubles over at the feeling of all the power coursing through his body.

He looks up, now looking younger than before.

“Ah yes, I can feel the power of the ocean in the furthest reaches of my DNA.”  He looks at the bowl. “When this well is full the age of the ocean will begin again.  An explosion of life to match the cambrian age, and then to the era of those abominable humans.”  He says,then turns and leaves, trying to close the door behind him. “Urg, this cursed door…”

He got on his little boat and sails away from the castle, leaving his kids alone to rest.

Meanwhile in the kid’s bubble one of Lance’s sisters swim up to the bubble he was still trapped in.  She kisses it, then proceeds to mouth it, then more of his sisters came over and joined their other sister.  All of them either mouthed at the bubble to get it to pop or they swam around waiting for the others to free their brother.

Finally the bubble pops, the girls squeak in victory.  They all watch to see if their brother was awake yet. He flips onto his belly, then his legs came back, then his arms.  He looks up and smiles, his sisters cheering for him. They all began to surround him happily, wanting to see the new arms and legs, swimming between his fingers.  He gave one of his sisters a kiss and then closed his mouth tight. He opens it after a bit.

“Teeth!”  He says showing his new teeth he made.  All his sisters made squeak noises, trying to say teeth themselves, a few others were giggling and playing with his toes.  He stood and looks at all his sisters. “Let’s find Keith!” He tells them.

The girls all agree, following their brother to the edge of their room.  He puts his webbed hands together and made a water shoot. He goes in it, seeing as how the castle is flooding, his sisters follow after him.  He walks onto the water and up the walls to the window, he opens the bubble window, letting the fish in.

The castle was now flooding all over.  A whirlpool created in there down the stairs, Lance just lets himself spin round and round down the stairs to his dad’s room.  The entire room flooded, Lance went with all the sea life down into the room. He latched himself onto a door handle.

He tried to steady himself on it, got hit in the face by a book, the door creaks.  He climbs on some more, an octopus hits him, the door creaks some more. Water floods into the room, then a ton of it hits the well inside, causing it to overflow.  Then it’s magic was released, Lance was sucked into the room.

He stood in there, wondering how everything escalated too quickly, then looks down.  His sisters swim beside him. He sees hands… hands! He lifts his now blue shirt, he has a tummy!  He pulls at his hair, he- he looks just like a human!

He rides out of the room on some magic golden fish, just ordinary fish who were exposed to magic, and rides out of the castle, the magic was released.  He rides the magic fish, his sisters squealing behind him, adventure awaits these tiny girls. Looking at the brother who looks more human. Lances uses his magic on his sisters.

“FREEEEE!”  He shouts, all his sisters temporarily turn into fish as they swim to the surface.  Not knowing they hit a poor boat that was just cruising along. The girls crashed into the ship and made waves.  The sailors panic.

“It must be a tsunami!”  One shrieks.

“Turn the ship into the waves!”  They yell, then one looks out.

“What is that?”  He asks in horror.  He sees something he has never seen before, a little boy running on the water, looks like he’s Keith’s-

“Captain, all our instruments just went dead!”  He didn’t care, he kept watching the boy run on the water.

“It’s a little boy, he looks like he’s about Keith’s age.”

* * *

It was a downpour back on land.  Parents picked their kids up from daycare, the teacher was waving them off while Keith puts on his poncho and shoes.

“It’s raining real hard Keith, I’ll call your mom to have her pick you up.”  She says, he smiles at her.

“That’s okay, I’ll take the shortcut.”  He tells her, then bows. “Goodbye Sensei.”

“Bye Keith.”  She says. “Be careful out there.”  She calls as he shuts the door. The wind practically pushes him around as he walks to the hole in the fence.  He holds his poncho as he goes through, then tugs at the part that got caught. He made it through, pulling his hood back over his head he stumbles to the senior center.

He walks up to the glass doors, seeing the building was dark but an employee walks by, so it’s unlocked.  He reaches for the door and forces it open, it wasn’t sliding automatically. He stood there waiting for his mom, Krolia walks over and sees her five year old drenched.

“Keith, I’m sorry.”  She walks up to him. “The door didn’t open right?  The power went out.” She reaches into her pocket to pull out a handkerchief, Keith pulls his hood down to dry himself with it.  “Everything okay at school?”

“Mmhmm.”  He says, then another woman runs by.

“Krolia if your shifts over you can go home.”

“Are you sure you don’t need my help?”

“Don’t worry, will be fine.”  She responds. Both Krolia and Keith look at her.  “A little rainstorm keeps the seniors entertained. If I were you I’d get out of here while ya still can.”  She says with a smile and walks off. Krolia looks back at her son.

“Wait here sweetie, I’ll be right back.”

“Okay.”  Keith nods.  He walks up to the seniors who were watching the storm.  Eress was sitting quietly, Keith pulls something out of his pocket and stood next to her.  “Hi Eress.” She looks over and smiles.

“Oh Keith is that you?  It’s so dark I can barely see.”  She says, Keith hands her something blue and made of paper.

“Here Eress, I made this for you.”  He hands it to her, they couldn’t see it cause it was dark.  She smiles.

“What do we have here?”

“Here’s one for you too Luu.”

“Thank you Keith.”  She says as she takes it.

“I can’t see a thing!”  He hears Honerva say. He looks over at her, facing away from the window.  “I don’t know why you’re still here, it’s just a little rain.” It’s like she was talking to someone else.  “I wanna go back to my old house.” She says. Just then the lights turn back on.

“There we go, that’s more like it!”  Eress says. Luu looks at the paper again.

“Let’s see…”  She looks at the blue paper mache.  “Your goldfish!” She says like it was the sweetest thing any child has ever done.

“I bet the lights came back on because Keith’s here.”  Eress said, the small child smiles at her. The TV cracks to life, the news was on.  ‘They’re now calling the bizarre event a micro typhoon-’ was all they could get before it started fizzing out.

Honerva held the remote as she tried to get it to come back to life, she looked done with everyone.

“Gah, this stupid TV.”  She says. “Nobody understands weather anymore, might as well look at shadows and listen to crickets.”  She complains, Eress whispers to Keith.

“You should probably take your mother home now.”  She says. “With our lucky goldfish to keep us company we’ll be just fine.”  She tells him, Keith nods.

“Okay.”  He walks over to Honerva, she looks over at him.  He pulls out a different paper mache piece he made.  “This is for you Honerva.” She takes it and looks at it.

“I can’t tell, what is it?  It’s wrinkled.” She says.

“It goes like this.”  He lifts one part of the paper up, looking like a boat.  Honerva smiles.

“I got it, it’s a grasshopper!”

“No, it’s the Koganei Maru.”  He tells her. Eress smiles behind him.

“That’s the name of your father’s ship, isn’t it Keith?”

“Mmhmm.”  He nods.

“Now it looks like a party hat.”  Honerva says. Krolia looks over, wearing a blue coat.

“Keith, we gotta get on the road.  Hurry now and say goodbye.” She calls.

“Okay.”  Keith says.  “Ladies, good evening.”  He bows to them.

“Good evening Mr. Keith.”  Both Eress and Luu bow back.

“Be careful the wind doesn’t blow you away!”  Honerva shouts. Krolia had pulled the car up to the entrance, Keith walks over.  Krolia opens her door for him.

“Come on, slide in.”  He crawls over her seat to get to his.  She buckles herself in as Keith sets himself down.  “They say the phones are dead too.” She says as she starts driving.  The car was immediately hit by the rain. Keith just looks out the window.

They drove down the road, seeing things fly by.  The trees shook violently, and the ocean was coming to meet the ground.  The ships out at the water were staying strong and trying to stay floating the best they could.

“The ocean looks all puffed up.”  Keith comments. He watches the boats.  “You think the storm could sink the ships?”

“No, ships can handle a storm.  They go out to sea, that’s what your father is doing right now.”  Just then a huge fish emerges from the water, Keith was the only one who saw it.  His eyes grew and stood in his seat to see it. The fish followed them across.

“I saw a huge fish!”  He proclaims. “Did you see that Mom?!”

“Put your seatbelt on!”  She snaps. Then she sees the two men at the docking station telling her to stop, she does and rolls her window down.

“Hold on Krolia, you can’t cross here!”

“We’ve just gotten word, seems like they’re going to evacuate this side!”

“It’s not mandatory.  There’s some people at the senior center, you should get them out.”  She tells them.

“They’re fine, they’re on the leeward side!”  One man says. “You need to go back and seek shelter there!”  Krolia sticks her head out and looks over.

“Okay but right now I need to get home.”  She sees how much water is there. The man knew what she was thinking.

“But you can’t cross here!”

“Go take the mountain road!”  The other says. Krolia sat down and prepared herself.

“Hold on kiddo.”  She tells her son.  Keith prepares himself for his mom’s famous crazy driving.

“No stop, don’t do it!”

“Here it comes!”  Another wave was coming.  The two men run away. “Krolia you’ve got to get out of here!”  She waits for the right time. The wave comes closer, looking like a lot of fish instead of a wave, Keith’s eyes grew at the sight.

“Hold on.”  Krolia shifts gears and drives through the water.  Then the wave hits, causing boats to shift and water to hit the road.  Krolia’s car spins out of control, but she manages to drive around and gain control again.  A boat crashes into a harbor right after she drives off. The flooding water follows them.

“The fish are following us!”

“Sit down!”  Krolia says again.  Keith kept looking out the window, then his eyes grew.  On the water was someone running, a boy, a boy his age. The boy notices Keith and smiles, running to keep up with the car.  Keith kept watching with wonder, then his mother makes a sharp turn.

Keith screams and fell over, panicking at his mother’s reckless driving for once.  Krolia grabs Keith and sits him up. 

“Hang on.”  She tells him.  On the water the boy points at the car, he found what he was looking for.  He got closer, then waves at Keith. The young boy looks at the miracle before him.  The boy waves, then does a flip, and skips, he was overjoyed. He kept running after the car, Keith could only stare.

The fish wave made it onto the road and was after them, the boy running on the wave.

“Man, that wave is just after us.”  She makes a sharp turn, the fish with the boy on it crashed causing him to fall in with the other fish, Keith saw that.

“Mom, a little boy just fell in!”

“What?”

“He was running on a fish and fell!”  He says, Krolia slams on her breaks. She got out, Keith right next to him.

“Where?”  She asks, Keith runs up to the edge and looks for the boy.  Meanwhile Krolia looks at the waves. “I’ve never seen the ocean like this.”  She looks back at her son. “Keith, where did you see a little boy?”

He looks at his mother.

“He was out there!”  He points. “Running on top of a huge fish!”

“That’s impossible!”  She tells him, they see a huge wave coming at them.  Krolia panics. “Keith we have to go!” Just then a massive gust of wind comes, pulling Keith off his feet.

He gets blown off the edge, Krolia grabs him just in time.  With all her motherly strength she pulls him back and holds him close.  She looks at the waves then runs into the car and drives like a maniac to get away from the waves.

“Okay, there was no little boy out there.”  She says in a panicked voice. “Don’t worry, we’re almost home.”  The waves were almost touching their house, and they lived on a cliff.

The green pale flies off the fence and onto the road, Krolia drives past it.  Keith gasps and watches it hit the waves. A webbed hand grabs it and walks out of the waves.  The little fish boy looks at the bucket, then back at the car.

“There is a little boy… Over here!  We’ll help you! Stay here Keith.” Krolia runs to the child, Keith looks at him.  The boy gasps. He runs past Krolia and towards Keith, changing more and more human.  Holding the bucket in one hand, then practically tackles Keith. The poor boy, but lucky enough the little boy landed on his feet and was holding Keith close, nuzzling into him.  Keith watches his mother run up.

“Keith, do you know him?”  She asks. This boy has now latched himself onto Keith like a koala, the five year old trying his best to hold him up, was kind of hard when he kept nuzzling into the five year olds face.

Keith puts him down and the two stare at one another.  Keith glances up and down, scanning the child’s body. Dark skin, darker hair, and blue eyes.  He wore a blue shirt and white shorts… it doesn’t look like anyone from his class. The boy’s smile fades, giving him a look that was more like a warning.  Keith blinks, then his eyes lit up.

“Lance?”  He asks. A smile grew on the boys face, he nods.

“It’s me, Lance!”

“It is you!”  He says in joy, Lance began to giggle and dance around.  Keith points at him. “Mom! Lance came back and he’s a little boy now!”  Lance koala hugs him again. Krolia couldn’t believe it. Another wave hits, all of Lance’s sisters hop out of the water and cheer for their brother.  Lance was on Keith’s shoulders.

“I found Keith!”  He laughs and hugs Keith’s head, Keith was proving to be a very strong five year old.  Krolia stares at the golden water before her, the little fish girls jumping out of the water in joy.  She looks at both boys, she grabs them and pulls them both inside.

She sets them down and looks at both of them with a smile.

“Alright, Keith, Lance.  Life is mysterious and amazing… but we have work to do now, and I need both of you to stay calm.”  She says, Lance nods. “Me too.” She grabs a rechargeable lantern from the wall, it lights up immediately.  “You can take your raincoat off now Keith,” She looks at Lance. “I’ve got a job for you Lance, would you hold the light?”  She hands it to him.

Lance holds the light, wide eyes staring at it.  Then he makes a pleased sound, he loves it, it’s so pretty.  Krolia picks Lance up and puts him on the landing.

“Stay here and I’ll go get a towel.”  Krolia walks in, she slides the blinds open.  Then walks into the kitchen, taking off her own coat, and turning on a flashlight hanging on the wall.  She turns the radio on and walks off.

Meanwhile Lance and Keith were running around the house, Lance being happy he can finally explore it.  He was holding the light over his head.

“Come on, in here!”  Keith says, Lance runs in.

“Smells like you in here!”  He hops onto the table, then off, then runs into the glass door with a loud thud.  “OW!”

“Lance!”  Keith wonders if he was okay.  Lance continued his running, he jumps on the arms of the couch then on the couch, then hops off.  He recovered fast. Keith watches him run. He ran down the hall, then into Krolia who had a towel ready.  He ran right into it.

“There, gotcha.”  She says. “Now lets rub ya down and dry ya off.”  She tells him. Lance makes a weird sound as he gets dried off.  Krolia stares with a smile. “Look at that pretty brown skin, it’s almost dry.”  Then Krolia looks at the rest of Lance with confusion. “And your clothes are too…”

“That’s because Lance was a fish Mom, water can’t make him wet.”  Keith explains, like he knew. Lance looks back at her and nods, just agreeing with what Keith said.  Then he presses the towel to his face.

“I really like this thing.”

“Well… let’s calm ourselves down with a hot drink.”  Krolia says, she puts on her apron and began her magic.  “Lance, could you hold the light for me?”

“Coming!”  Lance runs over, light still held over his head.  Krolia held the kettle.

“Alright, who wants to bet the water is working?”

“I do!”  Keith says.

“I do!”  Lance mimics.  Krolia lifts the faucet, water rushes out.

“Water!”  Both boys cheer, Lance started dancing around.

“We have our own water tank outside in the yard.”  Keith tells him.

“Who wants to see the stove light… and light!”  She says.

“Yay!”  Lance cheers.

“We have our own propane tank.”  Keith was the equivalent of an adult trying to impress someone they liked.  Krolia pulls out a few things from the fridge and looks at the two kids.

“Alright, go sit at the table.”

“Okay!”  Both boys respond, Keith looks at Lance who ran to the sliding door.

“Lance, the table’s over here.”  He says with a giggle, Lance prances his way to the table.  He jumps on the chair with a big grin, Keith looks at him. “Now sit like this.”  He shows Lance how to sit at the table. Lance jumps up and lands on his butt with a thud, feet on the table.  “Now put your stuff down.”

Now that was something Lance refused to do.  He wanted to hold the light… and the bucket, and the towel.  He refused to let anything go. “You need to use your hands.”  Keith tried to explain. Lance’s grin came right back.

“No, I’ll use feet!”  He shows Keith his foot, how his toes moved like fingers.  Lance could move one toe at a time and wiggle them like little stubby worms.

“Look at that!”  Keith’s mind was blown at the age of five.  He lifts his own foot up and tried to mimic Lance.  Krolia comes in with a tray and watches the two boys.

“Uh… what are you guys doing?”  She asks with a chuckle.

“Look at his feet, they’re just like hands.”  Keith says, voice full of joy and playfulness.  Lance’s toes wrap around Keith’s foot and holds it, then puts his toes in between Keith’s, like they were holding hands.

Krolia sets the tray in front of them, both boys stop and look.  Krolia takes a jar of honey and opens it. Taking a spoon in her hand she puts it in a cup of what looks like warm milk.  Lance watches closely, something he’s never seen before. The look on Krolia’s face, it looked so peaceful and relaxed. A woman taking care of the kids, making them a warm drink and keeping them safe, all while looking as calm as ever.  Lance never sees that, he never sees his own mom period.

Krolia sturs the honey in the cup and hands it to Lance.

“Here ya go.”  She says, then hands the other cup to Keith.  “It’s hot.” Lance watches Krolia for another second, then puts the light down and looks at Keith.  He was stirring his own drink then watches it drip from the spoon.

“This is the best.”  He says then puts the spoon in his mouth, a pleased look on his face.  Lance wonders if it is that good. He puts the bucket down and grabs the spoon, the towel falling off his shoulder.  He stirs vigorously then takes the spoon out. He puts it in his mouth to taste it, his eyes lit up, it was amazing. He had never tasted anything so sweet before.

He hums in delight, touching his soft cheeks as he savors the one drop.  Keith watches him fondly, taking the spoon out and blowing into his own cup.  Lance watches and mimics him yet again. His blowing was not as calm as his, his drink going everywhere.  Krolia watches, giggling at the child. Thinking it was cute how Lance was learning the little things that most humans don’t really think about.  She takes a sip of her tea as the kids drink their milk.

Lance downs his with one go, no breaths.  A drop was going down his chin, milk all around his lips as he puts it down, letting out a content sigh, then he hiccups.  Krolia puts her cup down and gave her own sigh of contentment.

“Ah, that hit the spot.”  She looks at both boys. “So what would the two of you like to do now?”

“Lance wants ham!”

“All he thinks about is ham Mom.”  Keith says. Lance nods in agreement.  Krolia smiles.

“I better make some dinner then.  But first, we should start the generator to call Heith.”  She tells them. Lance gave her the most blanked face ever, no idea who this woman is talking about.  Keith looks at him.

“That’s my dad.”  He tells Lance. “We need power to talk to him on the radio.”  Another blank face. “He’s out at sea right now, but he’ll be fine.”

“Is he an evil wizard?”  Lance asks in a small voice, Keith was confused.

“No, of course not.  He the captain of the ship.”  He explains. Krolia listened to the whole thing and had to ask.

“So Lance, what’s your dad like?”

“He hates humans!  He keeps me in a bubble!”  He shouts. Keith’s eyes went wide and he leans back, a little ‘huh’ left him.  Lance continues. “So I swam away from home.”

“Huh?!”  Keith was just confused at that point.

“So what’s your mother like then?”  Krolia asks.

“She’s big and  _ BEAUTIFUL _ !”  Lance makes a big gesture with his arms, a huge grin on his face.  You can tell how differently he thinks about his parents. “But… she can be very scary.”  He tells Keith like it’s a warning. The other boy smiles.

“Just like my mom.”  That got a laugh out of Krolia.

They walk into the room with the generator.  It was dark and they still had no power, and one kid who refuses to let go of the light.

“Lance, here please.”  Krolia says, Lance looks into the small room Krolia walked into.  He stands next to Keith and watches the older woman start up the generator.  She flips a few things and starts pulling on a motor starter.

A few tugs on the string and nothing, no power…

“Looks like something’s wrong with the fuel line.”  She says as she looks at the motor.

“Maybe it’s clogged.”  Keith tells his mother, Lance just stares at it.

“It’s clogged.”  He says, Keith stares at him.  Lance points at the motor. “It’s clogged over there.”  They watched as Krolia knocked on it, trying to unclog it.

Lance kept pointing, his chubby hands curl up.  He pulls at something, slowly changing back into his original form.  Keith noticed and was surprised at what he was seeing. Lance gave a little tug.  Krolia pulls on the motor again. It works, the lights turn on. Krolia looks up happily.

“It’s on!”

“It’s light now!  Yay!” Lance changes back into a human and jumps in a circle, Keith just stood there flabbergasted.

“Lance, you’re amazing.”

Krolia walks outside with an antenna, Keith walks out with the wires, Lance runs out with the light still on his head.  She sticks it into the ground, making sure is it sturdy.

“Antenna!  Antenna!” Lance says happily.  Keith looks up at his mom.

“Hey Mom, did all the ships out there sink?”  He asks. Lance stops and stares at his friend.  Krolia stares out at the ocean.

“I don’t see any lights out there…”  She kept staring, like she was lost in her thoughts.  “Alright.” She leads the two boys back inside.

Inside Krolia uses a radio transmitter, trying to call someone out at sea.  It made a horribly loud and ear piercing noise. Lance tries to cover his ears with his arms.

“TOO LOUD!”  He shrieks, Keith seemed unaffected.

“What’s wrong?”  He asks his Mom. Krolia gave a rather serious look.

“I can’t get any reception…that’s really weird.”  She says, then tries to reach someone. “Transmitting from J-A-4-LL.  J-A-4-L-L.” Krolia began. “Come in Heith. This is Krolia, Keith, and Lance.  We wanted you to know that we are all doing fine.”

Krolia smiles and moves the mic over to the two boys, Keith got excited and began to nearly shout.

“I’m taking care of everyone Dad!”

“Ham!”  Lance decides to shout.

After that the two kids were opening instant ramen.  Keith’s came out normally, Lance watched, then immediately tries it.  It came out all crumpled up. He stares at it, wondering why his didn’t come out all nicely like Keith’s.  Meanwhile the other boy let out a slight chuckle.

“Got your noodles ready?”  Krolia asks with a teapot in her hands.  She got down and poured water into Lance’s bowl first.  “Be careful, it’s  _ really  _ hot.”  She warns him as she puts a cover on the bowl.  Lance’s eyes lit up with wonder, it’s so amazing.

She does the same to Keith’s, Lance watches yet again.

“Have to wait a little bit.”  Krolia says, then walks away.

“It takes three minutes.”  Keith tells him. Then the two boys stare at the bowls, their attention spans were as long as you would guess, getting bored at about five seconds.  Lance looks at the side of the bowl, seeing some left over dry ramen he spilled. He picks it up, then decides to eat it.

“Alright, close your eyes.”  Krolia comes back. Both boys close their eyes.  “Keep em shut. Ah! Lance!” The boy gasps. “No peeking!”  He was caught red handed, then proceeds to cover his eyes with his hands.  “All right, get ready to look.” Both boys look.

“ _ Aaaaaabra kadabra! _ ”  Krolia lifts the lids, both boys were shocked, Lance practically jumping on his feet.  Inside their bowls were eggs, vegetables, and-

“It’s haaaaaaam!”  Lance cheers.

“Careful it’s hot.”  Keith warns as he picks up his chopsticks.  Lance didn’t heed the warning and took one slice of ham, trying to eat it in one go.  Regret sets in, he jumps around trying to cool his mouth down.

“Hot hot hot hot-!”

In the middle of eating Lance began to doze off, waking up slightly, then nods off, back away, then back asleep.  He drops his chopsticks and falls over next to Keith. The other boy looks over.

“Mom, Lance fell asleep.”  He tells her, she looks at the little boy.  Then puts him on the couch, tucking him in and letting him sleep.  Keith was right next to her, staring at Lance’s sleeping face.

“Do you think Lance came from far far away?”  Keith asks, Krolia turns the lanturn off.

“Yeah, I do.”

Outside the waves roll up and down gently.  Krolia walks up with her son to take a look at the weather.

“Look, seems like the waves have calmed down.”

“Maybe because Lance fell asleep.”  He says, while Krolia looks to her left.

“Did you see that light?”  She asks, Keith looks over at a distant light.  He knew what it was. Krolia got a closer look. “It’s moving.”

“That’s the senior center.”  Keith says. The light stops.  “I don’t see it now.”

“Did they evacuate?”  She asks while walking away.  “I’m worried about the seniors.”  Keith follows his mother out the door.  “Keith, stay with Lance, okay?” She checks the roads, still flooded, but not too bad.  “I’ve got to help them, I’ll get there if I take the mountain road.” She says to herself.

She walks back to her son, making her decision.

“Keith, I’m going to the senior center.”

“I’m coming too!”  Keith states, Krolia got down on her son’s level and places her hands on his tiny shoulders.

“I’d feel better if you stayed up here.”  She says, then the arguing starts. Cause you don’t tell a five year old “no”.

“But why can’t I come?”  He asks as she prepares food on the table.  “We can wake up Lance and take him with us!”  His eyes began to tear up. “I wanna come with you.”

“Keith,”  She starts, getting on her knees again, a warm smile on her face.  “Right now our house is a beacon in the storm. Our lights can be seen by the towns and the ships and everywhere that’s dark.  You know I have to help the old people.” She tells him.

“So I’m leaving you in charge, you’ll do the right thing, I know it.”  Krolia kept going, trying to encourage her son. “You’re going to have to be the man of the house for tonight.  Let Lance sleep, wait for me.” She smiles. “You’re only five but you’re very smart, sometimes we take a leap.”  She began to tear up as well. “Be brave, you can do it, and I’ll be back.”

Keith began to cry, but he had to be brave like she said, he’s the man of the house now.

“Promise?”  He asks her.  She leans her forehead on his.

“I promise.”

“You promise.”  The two hug tightly, not wanting the other to go.

“I love you, Keith.”

On the road Krolia stops and gave her son a thumbs up.  Keith, now wearing his sailor hat, returns the gesture. Wishing the other good luck.  Keith closes the sliding doors and sat next to Lance, waiting for his mother to return.  Meanwhile Krolia drives off into the distance, out of sight.


End file.
